Damage Control
by Lady Emily
Summary: There's a lesson in all this... [One shot. Unrequited JoeNancy.]


A/N: So I'm hoping that clearing my mind of all these little one-shots will FINALLY enable me to write some more "Front Cover." Feels like it's been about five years since I did any work on it... Sorry 'bout that. Anyway, I did write SOMEthing. Hope you like it.

Disclaimer: Don't own it, not making any money, all the other things a disclaimer is supposed to include, et cetera.

* * *

Joe Hardy's face was very, very close to his brother's. It wasn't often they squared off like this, but when they did, things escalated fast. "Frank, she's my friend! We've known her forever! I trust her!" 

Frank's jaw was clenched in a way that suggested he was quickly losing patience with his younger brother. "And all the evidence points to her being involved." he reminded Joe. "We can't just ignore that because you happen to like her!"

Nancy Drew shifted uncomfortably in her place off to the side. She was so unused to seeing the brothers argue that she never knew what to do when they did. She knew Frank was right, that the girl in question did need to be investigated, but Joe had a valid point as well. Keeping her mouth shut for the time being seemed like the best option.

"Quit treating her like a confirmed criminal! Whatever happened to 'innocent until proven guilty'?" Joe was shouting now.

"Whatever happened to not letting a pretty face cloud your judgment?" Frank shot back. "Oh, wait, you never really lived by that rule in the first place!"

From her spot on the wall, Nancy winced. _Kind of a low blow on Frank's part..._

A shadow of hurt crossed Joe's face, but was gone in an instant. What did Frank know anyway? This girl was a good friend to him, nothing more, but Frank just automatically assumed... "When did _you_ stop trusting people?" he returned angrily. "When did you stop trusting _me_? Aren't I usually right about things like this?"

"Usually!" Frank retorted. "And we _usually_ don't die! But it only takes _once_ to get us all killed, Joe!" His voice softened only slightly as he continued, "Thinking with your heart instead of your head is a good way to get hurt, especially in this business!"

"Yeah, well, thinking with your head instead of your heart all the time is a good way to hurt the people you love." Joe replied acidly.

Something in his words hit home in Frank, causing his eyes to flash as he growled through gritted teeth, "I don't want to argue with you. Come talk to me when you're ready to _think rationally._"

"If by 'think rationally,' you mean 'spy on my friend,' then it'll be a good long time!" Joe answered back before turning on his heel and going into his bedroom, slamming the door behind him.

Nancy watched helplessly as Frank stalked into his own room, leaving her alone in the hall wondering where the damage control ought to begin.

* * *

Joe heard the soft knocking on his door and ignored it, lying on his bed on his stomach and burying his face in his pillow. A minute later the door opened and shut quietly, and he felt the bed sink slightly next to him and a hand laid carefully on his shoulder. "Joe?" 

Joe raised his head, if only to prove to Nancy that he wasn't crying, although, had he been anyone else, he might have been. "What?" he asked, slightly snappishly. He hoped she wasn't here to argue Frank's point, because he was in no mood.

"I just wanted to make sure you were okay." Nancy assured him, not removing her hand. "That was pretty intense."

Joe looked up at her and it struck him, not for the first time, how beautiful she was. He vaguely wondered how long he had been thinking of the girl detective as attractive. _A long time,_ he thought. _Probably since we've known each other. _He lowered his eyes from hers and answered, "Yeah. I guess." He shifted so he was sitting up against his headboard, facing her. He gave a halfhearted grin. "Frank's been kind of a bear since he and Callie broke up last month."

Nancy stiffened a little, wondering if Joe had made the connection. She knew Frank hadn't told him the reason for the breakup. Heck, the only reason Nancy knew was because, well, she had asked. And she and Frank had a relationship that pretty much included not being able to refuse each other anything. "But you're okay?" she asked again, abruptly changing the subject.

"Sure I am." Joe said, a hint of a smile playing over his lips. "Callie always kind of annoyed me." he added, thereby making himself a finalist for the understatement of the year award.

Nancy rolled her eyes. "That's not what I meant and you know it."

"Yeah." Joe assured her. "I'm fine. Besides, Frank'll come crawling back." He was watching her with some interest now- her hand was resting on his knee and she didn't seem to realize it.

Nancy smirked. "No doubt... I just hate to see my favorite detective and his brother fight." she teased.

"Am I the detective or the brother?" Joe wondered aloud, winking at her.

Nancy smiled and shook her head, not confirming either way. She was used to Joe's harmless flirting.

Joe had never seriously flirted with Nancy before. He'd always halfway thought she had a thing for his brother. Now he began to wonder... if that was true, why was she here instead of with Frank right now?

Nancy folded her arms and Joe missed the feel of her hand on his knee. "I came to be your shoulder to cry on," she said, as if reading his mind. "So start crying, Hardy."

Joe wondered if he was imagining things or if her words had really made his heart beat just a little faster. He ignored it and glanced in the general direction of Frank's room, shrugging. "To tell the truth, I'm not even that angry anymore." he said. "Frank and I, we're just different. This might be the one thing we never understand about each other. Him with his logic and me with my passion. We both think our way is better."

Nancy was surprised by the wisdom in Joe's words. She hadn't thought of it in those terms before, but she realized they described pretty much every argument the brothers had ever had. "I... yeah." she started. "Will you... can you...?"

Joe nodded. "I'll talk to him in a bit, Nan. He's probably still stuck on the fight. It'll take him a few more minutes."

Nancy smiled. Despite the major differences in their modi operandi, the boys still knew each other inside and out. "You do realize that we're going to have to... you know... check up on your friend." She saw the look on Joe's face that clearly said he still wasn't okay with this. "Joe, if she's innocent-" she started, but Joe cut her off.

"We'll find out." Joe finished dully. "No harm done. Yeah, I know, but it still feels like a betrayal of trust, you know what I mean?"

Nancy did, all too well. "I know. It's hard to suspect your friends of doing something horrible. But sometimes they do. And sometimes they don't. And sometimes they do, but for a good reason." Her eyes sought out Joe's, and she saw he was nodding reluctantly.

"Okay, I get the point. Besides, we _do_ need something that will hold up in a court of law." Joe conceded. Her eyes were studying his and he wondered if she was checking for understanding or something else altogether.

"Right. Good." she answered. "We done talking serious now?"

"Yeah." Joe said absently, wondering what Nancy would do if he just told her what he was feeling right now. Wondering what would happen if he just leaned forward and kissed her on the mouth...

Nancy leaned forward onto her knee, pressing a kiss to Joe's forehead and ruffling his hair with her fingers. "Okay then. I'm going to finish making the rounds."

Joe nodded wordlessly, unable to think about anything but the way her lips on his skin felt so _right_.

* * *

"_I'm sick of it, Frank!"_

"_Callie, Callie." Frank put his hands on her shoulders, attempting to placate his girlfriend. "What are you talking about?"_

"_You! No, Joe!" Callie amended. "I'm sick of the two of you! Always going everywhere together like you're attached at the hip!"_

"_Are you joking?" Frank asked. Sure, he and Joe were closer than most siblings, but they weren't attached at the hip! Or anywhere else, for that matter._

_The look his blonde, brown-eyed girlfriend gave him told him she was anything but joking. "Come on, Frank. We've hung out together every day this week: you, me, and your brother. Sometimes I wonder who I'm dating: you or Joe!"_

_Frank raised an eyebrow. It wasn't like it was normal for him to bring Joe everywhere with him. But his dad was on a case and his mother and aunt were out of town, and leaving his brother alone for too long made Frank anxious. It only took twenty minutes for Joe to disappear without a trace, as had been amply proven on several occasions. Hadn't he already explained that to her?_

"_He came to the movies with us on Friday night, for heaven's sake!"_

_It was true, although, to be fair, Joe did sit five or six rows away. And Frank had practically dragged him there. But it didn't seem wise to mention any of that to Callie, who was still ranting._

"_It was one thing when he double dated with us and Iola," she continued, "But now..."_

_Frank pulled his hands back angrily. "Stop." he said. "Please stop. Quit being jealous of Joe. It's ridiculous."_

"_Jealous!" Callie cried. "You know what, fine, I am jealous! Of Joe! And of all the time you spend working on cases instead of with me! And of all the girls you've met traveling halfway around the world that you never mention me to! But especially because you're so busy being paranoid that you ignore me and my feelings!"_

_Frank didn't know what to say. He guessed he did take Callie for granted sometimes. Well, a lot of the time. "Cal..."_

"_Don't!" Callie yelled, drawing stares from just about everyone on her street. Her anger faded and she sounded upset, even tearful. "Look, Frank. I don't want to do this anymore. I'm sick of getting hurt and nonstop worrying and not even being on your top ten list of important things. You know, I kind of feel sorry for you, and Joe, and anyone else in your life, because you're so busy thinking that you don't even **feel** anymore!" _

"_Callie... are you... do you-" Frank stuttered, floored by her outburst._

"_It's been fun, Frank." Callie said, only a little maliciously. After all, some parts had been fun. She looked at him, then at the van in the driveway and back, sending him a clear message to get in his car and go. Then, without another word, she turned and went into her house, not looking back._

_Frank stood on her driveway like an idiot for a minute more before getting into the van and driving home on autopilot. _

Frank groaned, sitting on his bed and staring out the window. It was one thing to be told off by your girlfriend (during her breakup speech, after several months of a deteriorating relationship) that you thought so much you didn't know how to feel, and quite another to be told the same thing by your little brother in a war of the words...

Which was crazy, really. Just because he was more comfortable justifying logic than intuition didn't make his some kind of robot! He still had emotions!

_'Yeah, well, thinking with your head instead of your heart all the time is a good way to hurt the people you love.'_

Joe's words kept replaying in his head. He had already hurt Callie. What about Joe?

Frank ignored the knock on the door, but wasn't surprised when it opened anyway and Nancy made her way to sit beside him on the bed. He didn't acknowledge her.

"Frank?" she whispered.

He sighed. "Hey, Nan."

"Are you still angry?" she asked quietly, placing her hand cautiously over his, which was resting on the bed.

"No." Frank answered. "Just... worried."

"Care to share?" she prompted gently, and he saw the sparkle in her eyes that was only there when she looked at him. He smiled a little. Maybe he was a robot, but he wasn't a stupid one.

"That Joe was right." he expounded. "And Callie."

* * *

Joe swung his legs off the bed and stood quickly, berating himself for letting her leave. Where had his words gone when she was sitting two feet from him? Why was it so hard to tell a close friend how... sweet and beautiful and... incredible she was? 

He walked down the hall quietly, lost in thought. He didn't know why he thought he'd find her downstairs, but he was vaguely surprised to hear her voice coming from Frank's room. He crept closer to Frank's door, which was cracked open just enough for him to be able to see them. They were facing the window, so he couldn't see their faces, but he could hear every word they said.

"Frank..." Nancy was saying. "You're too hard on yourself. I hate to say this, but you're overthinking it."

This earned a sarcastic chuckle from Frank, who knew that all this overthinking was the problem in the first place. "What else is new?" Even from his spot in the doorway Joe could detect a twinge of bitterness in Frank's voice. He wasn't sure why she was listening, but couldn't seem to tear himself away.

"There's nothing wrong with you." Nancy said. "You're an amazing guy. If Callie couldn't see that-" Nancy stopped herself. "Never mind. Of course you feel, Frank, you just think over your feelings. And Joe does the opposite. That's why you guys make a great team. You know, one of each."

"And Nancy, who's perfectly balanced." Frank's voice sounded lighter now, more teasing.

"Hardly." Nancy snorted. "And I'm sort of a busybody on the side... Look at me, running around playing guidance counselor..."

"Speaking of Joe..."

Joe had started to move away from the door, but instantly became alert at the sound of his name despite himself.

"He's fine." Nancy said. "I looked in on him first. He said he'll talk to you when _you_ cool down." She gave a short laugh toward the end of her sentence and Joe smiled.

"Great." Frank said. Joe could hear the grin in his voice as he said, "So _that's_ what took you so long to get in here!"

Nancy shrugged. "I figured he needed me more than you did at that point..."

_You have no idea, _Joe thought.

But Frank was smiling. "I don't think so, Nan." he whispered, his voice husky, his dark eyes connecting with the blue of Nancy's.

Joe's heart sank into his stomach as he witnessed Nancy tilting her head up, her lips meeting Frank's in a kiss so tender it felt too sacred to watch. He turned away from the door, his blue eyes dark with hurt, made better only by the fact that they didn't realize how he felt, which was really no consolation at all.

"I need you too." he heard Nancy whisper, and it killed him.

"I love you." Frank returned softly, and Joe knew he was kissing her again.

Joe turned back to his room, feeling forlorn and more than a bit ridiculous. _How stupid could you get?_ He had known all along that Frank and Nancy had feelings for each other... how had he persuaded himself differently? What had he been thinking? He hadn't- he'd been feeling.

He wondered if this was a lesson in thinking with his heart instead of his head, because it was a good one.

* * *

A/N: It sounded good in my head, but I pictured it being... better. Than this, I mean. Oh, well. It's kind of clichéd, and a little angsty, but its as good as it's going to get. Hopefully you feel it was at least worth the time you spent reading it... Anyway, this'll probably be my last little one-shot for a while, because I'm _really going to try_ to work on "Front Cover." (Although even that will be postponed till the weekend because I'm hella busy this week.) So anyway, please review! 


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